Mumbai Dockyard Worker Arrested For Leaking INS Udaygiri’s Deck, Submarine & Warship Particulars |
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a 31-year-old structural fabricator from Mazgaon Dockyard for allegedly leaking delicate info to Pakistani intelligence operatives (PIOs). The ATS has registered a case underneath the Official Secrets and techniques Act towards Kalpesh Baikar and one Sonali Sharma, who’s a PIO with a faux title primarily based in Pakistan. Baikar was arrested and produced within the vacation courtroom on Sunday. The courtroom granted ATS remand until March 14.
Baikar allegedly leaked particulars of warship INS Udaygiri, a number of submarines and warships after falling into the honey lure laid by Ms Sharma on Fb. She focused him since he had talked about being an worker of the naval shipyard. In keeping with officers, he shared handmade printed diagrams of the INS Udaygiri deck and different warships and submarines that got here to the naval dockyard for restore and upgradation.
Baikar was appointed as a structural fabricator on the naval dockyard in November 2020-21 on a contractual foundation, and his contract was prolonged thrice at Mazgaon Dock and he was in contact with Ms Sharma between November 2021 to Could 2023.
Baikar had labored on the deck of the Nilgiri-class guided missile frigate INS Udaygiri, through the restore and upgrading interval. He allegedly collected particulars of the missiles, torpedoes, and associated upgrading info, which aren’t out there on in open area and are thought-about categorized info. He drew diagrams of INS Udaygiri deck and different warships and submarines on paper and allegedly shared them with the PIO.
The case is extremely delicate as a result of two years in the past, INS Udaygiri was commissioned into the Indian Navy as a frontline warship with trendy know-how, as a part of the ’Venture 17A’ frigate programme. Launched in 2022 by defence minister Rajnath Singh, INS Udaygiri guided-missile boasted of improved stealth options, superior weapons and sensors, and state-of-the-art platform administration techniques.
Sources advised that Ms Sharma additionally sought particulars of warships and submarines berthed at MDL, the explanations for his or her presence, which ships have been present process trials and the time taken for the upgrades.
The ATS retrieved a number of diagrams of warships and submarines from Kalpesh’s Fb chat ebook and WhatsApp, which he had deleted after sharing. In addition they retrieved chats with the PIO agent, the place they have been engaged in lengthy, candy, and obscene talks.
In the course of the investigation, it got here to mild that Baikar had fallen right into a lure set by PIO named Sonali Sharma, who deceitfully posed as a lady primarily based in Dubai. Their preliminary contact was established on Fb and later transitioned to WhatsApp, the place Baikar, underneath the phantasm of a budding romantic relationship, eagerly awaited a gathering that might by no means come, all of the whereas being unaware of the PIO’s true identification and nefarious intentions.
Sources revealed that Baikar acquired Rs. 2000 when he expressed a necessity for some cash for private bills. The fee was made by a fee gateway from a suspicious checking account that had been inactive for a very long time.
In December final yr, ATS dealt with the same case the place Gaurav Patil, a trainee civil apprentice at Mazgaon Dock, was apprehended by the company in a honey lure operation involving a PIO. The PIO agent trapped him utilizing the names like Payal Angel and Arti Sharma, and accessed essential particulars of warships and submarines.